The Assembly of the Island Commission - a body of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR) - has supported the Canary Islands this Wednesday in its strategy for the European Union (EU) to address the possibility of limiting the purchase of housing by non-residents.
It is one of the measures proposed by the Canarian president, Fernando Clavijo, at a summit that took place in Santa Cruz de La Palma this Wednesday and in which he was elected vice president of the commission.
Clavijo referred in this way during a press conference to the need to face the strong demographic growth that the archipelago is registering and the imbalances that it implies since, in the opinion of the Canarian president, the new RUP strategy designed by the community authorities "opens a window of opportunity" in this sense.
The president has emphasized that, to ensure a prosperous future for the Canary Islands, it is essential to unite economic development with sustainability and tourism "to our way of being and our landscape".
In this sense, he has asserted that the aspirations of the Canary Islands are to "democratize or redistribute" wealth in the tourism sector; transparency in land management and the application of a strategy for the demographic challenge that contributes to guaranteeing sustainable and orderly growth "that guarantees coexistence between the tourist and the resident".
"Aware that European legislation does not restrict freedoms such as that of residence, a strategy has been initiated that, on the one hand, allows laying the foundations for sustainable tourism and, on the other, articulates specific mechanisms to limit the acquisition of homes by foreign buyers that alter the normal evolution of the housing market in the islands," Clavijo elaborated.
This issue was included in the Declaration of La Palma, approved unanimously by the Assembly and which, according to the president of the archipelago, "endorses the strategy designed by the Government of the Canary Islands and urges to take measures to offer solutions to the housing problem".
It also alludes to the need to "channel tourism activity in sustainability parameters, following the line marked by the previous Islands Commission held in Malta in October 2024".
Likewise, the Canarian Government has reported in a note that the document approved this Wednesday in La Palma highlights that, faced with an increasingly complex geopolitical panorama, marked by economic uncertainty, threats to security, climate emergencies and migratory pressures, Europe "must reinforce its role as a pillar of stability and prosperity for all its territories, especially the most vulnerable, such as its islands, including the archipelagos and the peripheral and ultraperipheral regions".
In this "critical phase", the Islands Commission of the CPMR has urged the EU to integrate island needs into its fundamental policies, starting with cohesion, which must continue to be the cornerstone for the islands to address development gaps.
At the same time, it highlights the uniqueness of the ORs and the regime provided for them in Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and asks that all EU legislation reflect the specific circumstances and requirements of building full European citizenship in these regions.
"The Declaration responds to the priorities highlighted by the new European commissioners in relation to various policy areas, from connectivity, energy, competitiveness, climate and the environment, sustainable tourism or social and cultural development," said the Canarian Government.
Likewise, the final text mentions the reality of the regions that deal directly with the management of migration and that "must have the tools, competences and sufficient financing to address this situation without necessarily going through the intervention of their respective Member States".
Finally, the Islands Commission has urged the EU institutions and national governments to continue supporting the management of climate risks and disaster preparedness in island territories, which are more vulnerable to sudden climate catastrophes, in particular the outermost regions, "as they face significant risks from heat, drought and rising sea levels," they conclude.